At the request of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a transport unit of the Bundeswehr took part for the first time in a United Nations blue helmet operation in the summer of 1993 in “pacified areas” of Somalia. This operation was the subject of controversial political discussion in Germany. Then, in July 1994, the Federal Constitutional Court judged that German armed forces could participate in operations within the framework of NATO or WEU activities in support of the implementation of resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

In accordance with the judgment of this Court, the same applies to the participation of German armed forces in United Nations peacekeeping troops. On 6 December 1995 the German Bundestag voted by a large majority to approve the mission of 4,000 Bundeswehr soldiers within the framework of the U.N. operations in Bosnia. At the beginning of 1997 the German Minister of Defence, with the approval of the German Bundestag, placed 3,000 Bundeswehr soldiers under the command of the Stabilization Force (SFOR), NATO’s international peacekeeping force for Bosnia and Herzegovina.